351.101 73 
G  ft  2V 


JLTS  THEORY 


ADDRESS  OF 

Hon.  Henry  F.  Greene 

United  States  Civil  Service  Commissioner 
AT  THE 

ASSEMBLY  OF  CIVIL  SERVICE  COMMISSIONS 

CHICAGO,  MAY  7-8,  1908 


\ 


ILLINOIS  LiSRARV 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

NATIONAL  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM  LEAGUE 


79  WALL  STREET.  NEW  YORK 

1908 


•  v 

-  J-  r  r  -  •  -  '  *<*  4 


- 

•  •  ,'iV  cV'  ■'  •<?  ~  ;  J  i  ‘  A  •*> 

ff- >*  **3  >  -  r 

. 

. 

v" 


VU-  O, 


Lp;  <*  . 

i  •  v-<  -; 

- 

- 


<v 

'  v  ■ 


VI  jr  ^  r  , 


-  Vv  i  zgl  EBP  sjs.  • " 

J  ;  T  S;  -»* 

j  ,•*•  •  .  </  -  •  '-  -  '  v- 

. 


*»* . 


-  *  <w 


'..  •:  *  l  -  v  :  -V •  -,i- ,-T  *- .v 


RESULTS  os.  THEORY 


» 


ADDRESS  OF 

Hon.  Henry  F.  Greene 

United  States  Civil  Service  Commissioner 
AT  THE 

ASSEMBLY  OF  CIVIL  SERVICE  COMMISSIONS 

CHICAGO,  MAY  7-8,  1908 


WIVERSTTY  OF  ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 

stp  s  o  ms 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

NATIONAL  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM  LEAGUE 

79  WALL  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

1908 


Press  of 

THE  CHIEF 
Journal  of  The  Civil  Service 

New  York  City 


3 $1.  hcftfS 
<5  £32 r 


RESULTS  vs.  THEORY 


A  Paper  Read  at  the  Assembly  of 
Civil  Service  Commissions  at 
Chicago,  Illinois,  May  7,  1908 

By 

HON.  HENRY  F.  GREENE 


I  feel  it  necessary  to  make  two 
preliminary  remarks  about  this  paper. 
First,  what  will  be  stated  will  be 
rather  trite  and  probably  familiar  to 
a  very  large  proportion  of  those 
present.  The  only  excuse  for  this 
is  that  it  is  difficult  to  produce  new 
facts  or  ideas  on  the  subject  of  civil 
service  reform,  and  that  some  of  the 
things  I  will  say  may  be  in  the  na¬ 
ture  of  information  to  some  of  those 
present  and  be  useful  to  them,  and 
will  have,  therefore,  to  be  received 
with  patience  by  the  rest. 

Second,  the  subject  assigned  to  me 
is  one  which  treated  fully  would  un¬ 
doubtedly  exhaust  the  patience  of 
this  conference.  Results  and  theory 
constitute  the  whole  of  any  subject 
and  to  fully  discuss  the  relationship 
or  alleged  antagonism  between  re¬ 
sults  and  theory  would  necessitate 
a  full  discussion  of  all  the  aspects  of 
civil  service  reform.  This,  of  course, 
is  impossible.  Furthermore,  there  is 
not  and  never  can  be  any  such  an¬ 
tagonism  between  results  and  theory 
as  is  implied  in  the  title.  If  the  re¬ 
sults  do  not  bear  out  the  theory  it 
is  not  properly  speaking  a  theory  at 
all,  but  a  hypothesis  which  can  never 
be  verified.  In  this  instance  there  is 
no  antagonism,  properly  speaking, 
between  the  theory  of  civil  service 
reform  and  its  results. 

It  will  therefore  be  my  object 
briefly  to  state  in  the  first  place  the 


theory  upon  which  the  various  civil 
service  laws  have  been  based,  and  a 
few  facts  which  bear  out  that  theory; 
and  secondly  the  objections  made  to 
the  reform  and  a  few  of  the  instances 
in  which  these  objections  have  been 
tested  and  found  to  be  simply  hy¬ 
pothetical,  and  destitute  of  any  actual 
force.  s 

The  first  thought  occurring  to 
Jenks,  Curtis,  and  tthe  others  who 
initiated  the  merit  system  was  un¬ 
doubtedly  to  increase  the  efficiency  of 
the  service.  It  was  too  manifest  in 
the  later  sixties  that  the  condition  of 
public  service  in  this  country  was 
scandalously  inefficient,  and  that  gov¬ 
ernmental  work  in  the  United  States 
was  done  in  a  manner  inferior  to  that 
obtaining  in  other  highly  enlight¬ 
ened  civilized  countries.  The  thought 
was  to  obtain  a  remedy.  It  was  felt 
that  the  first  remedy  necessary  was 
to  fill  positions  with  sole  regard  to 
the  efficiency  of  the  public  service. 

In  addition  to  this  utilitarian  con¬ 
ception  a  moral  development  in  the 
public  mind  influenced  largely  the  re¬ 
form  movement.  It  was  felt  that  if 
the  public  service  was  to  be  advanced 
it  was  impossible  to  have  any  other 
consideration  in  appointments  than 
the  public  good.  An  illustration  from 
the  rules  of  law  will  perhaps  be  in 
point.  A  man  to  whom  money  is 
entrusted  for  the  purposes  of  invest¬ 
ment  is  allowed  by  law  to  make  no 
profit  out  of  it  except  his  compensa¬ 
tion  in  the  shape  of  commission. 
The  courts  well  know  that  to  allow 
in  the  slightest  degree  any  consider¬ 
ation  to  enter  into  the  investment 
except  the  welfare  of  the  owner  of 
the  fund  will  greatly  imperil  its  safe- 


ty — possibly  result  in  its  loss.  We 
have  excellent  authority  for  the 
proposition  that  “no  man  can  serve 
two  masters/’  The  courts  know  that 
the  agent  wrho  is  looking  for  his  own 
profit  cannot  adequately  safeguard 
the  profit  of  his  clients.  So  the  grad¬ 
ual  evolution  of  ethical  standards 
brought  it  l  about  t,hat  the  public 
conscience  realized  that  the  appoint¬ 
ing  officer  ought  to  have  no  purpose 
except  the  public  good.  Without 
question  the  greatest  moral  move¬ 
ment  that  this  country  has  ever  seen 
was  that  which  led  to  the  abolition 
of  slavery.  It  is  a  notable  fact  that 
the  early  advocates  of  civil  service 
reform  were  persons,  like  George 
William  Curtis,  who  had  been  edu¬ 
cated  in  the  school  of  abolition. 
These  people  felt  that  to  allow  ap¬ 
pointments  to  be  in  the  slightest  de¬ 
gree  contributory  to  the  welfare  of 
political  parties,  except  in  so  far  as 
good  appointments  would  justify  the 
retention  in  power  of  a  political 
party,  was  to  allow  a  breach  of  trust 
akin  to  speculating  with  the  funds  of 
a  client. 

Good  men  in  the  period  before  the 
w'ar  and  since  that  time  have  ac¬ 
tively  participated  in  the  spoils  sys¬ 
tem,  but  there  had  been  an  evolution 
in  the  conscience  of  the  most  en¬ 
lightened  part  of  the  community 
which  had  brought  it  about  that  the 
longer  use  of  public  offices  for  the 
advancement  of  private  political  in¬ 
terests  was  intolerable. 

The  gross  inefficiency  and  scandal¬ 
ous  mismanagement  of  institutions 
like  the  New  York  Custom  House 
and  the  Consular  Service  forced  these 
ethical  conceptions  upon  the  public 
mind  in  the  early  days  of  the  reform 
movement. 

In  seeking  for  a  rule  of  appoint¬ 
ment  which  would  extirpate  this 
cancer  in  the  body  politic  the  mind 
of  reformers  was  turned  towards  ap¬ 
pointment  by  means  of  competition. 
In  his  address  delivered  at  Saratoga 
September  8,  1881,  Mr.  Curtis  said: 

“Personal  influence  in  appoint¬ 
ments  can  be  annulled  only  by  free 
and  open  competition.  By  that  bridge 
we  can  return  to  the  practice  of 


Washington  and  to  the  intention  of 
the  Constitution.  That  is  the  shoe 
of  swiftness  and  the  magic  sword  by 
which  the  President  can  pierce  and 
outrun  the  protean  enemy  of  sophis¬ 
try  and  tradition  which  prevents  him 
from  asserting  his  power.  If  you 
say  that  success  in  competitive  lit¬ 
erary  examination  does  not  prove 
fitness  to  adjust  customs  duties  or  to 
distribute  letters  or  to  appraise  linen 
or  to  measure  molasses,  I  answer 
that  the  reform  does  not  propose 
that  fitness  shall  be  proved  by  a  com¬ 
petitive  literary  examination.  It 
proposes  to  annul  personal  influence 
and  political  favoritism  by  making 
appointment  depend  upon  proved 
•  capacity.  To  determine  this  it  pro¬ 
poses  first  to  test  the  comparative 
general  intelligence  of  all  applicants 
and  their  special  knowledge  of  the 
particular  official  duties  required,  and 
then  to  prove  the  practical  faculty 
of  the  most  intelligent  applicants  by 
actual  trial  in  the  performance  of  the 
duties  before  they  are  appointed.  If 
it  be  still  said  that  success  in  such  a 
competition  may  not  prove  fitness,  it 
is  enough  to  reply  that  success  in 
obtaining  the  favor  of  some  kind  of 
boss,  which  is  the  present  system, 
presumptively  proves  unfitness.” 

It  is  impossible  to  state  more  clear¬ 
ly  or  in  more  compact  form  the  the¬ 
ory  which  underlaid  the  use  of  com¬ 
petitive  examinations  so  far  as  they 
were  intended  to  promote  the  effi¬ 
ciency  of  the  service. 

There  was,  however,  another  im¬ 
portant  object  of  this  reform  so  far 
as  the  matter  of  administration  was 
concerned,  of  a  thoroughly  practical 
character.  It  was  the  desire  for  the 
economical  administration  of  the  af¬ 
fairs  of  the  Government.  Where  ap¬ 
pointments  are  made  with  a  sole 
view  to  the  public  welfare  no  more 
appointments  are  made  than  are  nec¬ 
essary  to  do  the  public  work.  The 
man  who  is  engaged  in  private  busi¬ 
ness  with  the  sole  object  of  gain  does 
not  make  two  clerks  do  the  work  of 
one,  but  where  appointments  are 
made  either  from  a  desire  to  ad¬ 
vance  the  interests  of  parties,  of  fac- 


tions,  or  of  leaders,  or  where  they 
are  made  from  motives  of  sympathy, 
the  'natural  impulse  is  to  have  as 
many  employees  as  your  appropri¬ 
ation  will  cover;  moreover,  where  po¬ 
litical  influence  controls  and  a  can¬ 
didate  is  pushed  it  is,  of  course,  pos¬ 
sibly  to  make  room  for  the  new  man 
in  the  old  brutal  method  of  simply 
turning  out  some  former  employee, 
but  that  is  for  the  ordinary  kind 
hearted  man  a  very  disagreeable  task, 
and  besides,  the  man  who  is  turned 
out  has  his  backers  and  there  is  dan¬ 
ger  of  exciting  their  antagonism  by 
his  removal.  Much  the  easier  and 
simpler  way  is  to  make  a  new  office. 
This  was  the  method  in  vogue  under 
the  spoils  system  in  the  national 
government  prior  to  1883.  It  is  still 
in  vogue  wherever  that  system  ob¬ 
tains.  Destroying  entirely  any  polit¬ 
ical  or  personal  interest  in  an  ap¬ 
pointment  as  that  interest  is  de¬ 
stroyed  by  the  establishment  of  a 
system  of  competition  it  was  thought 
would  result  in  the  restriction  of  ap¬ 
pointees  to  the  number  required  by 
the  needs  of  the  public  service. 

The  third  object,  and  by  far  the 
most  important  sought  to  be  gained 
by  the  merit  system,  was  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  the  machine  and  the  system 
of  machine  government.  All  of  those 
who  have  advocated  this  reform  have 
been  thorough  believers  in  democ¬ 
racy  and  in  the  possibilities  of  a 
democratic  government.  There  are 
many  communities  on  the  globe  at 
present  and  there  have  been  many 
in  the  past  where  a  democratic  gov¬ 
ernment  is  impossible  on  account  of 
the  lack  of  intelligence  or  moral 
character  among  the  masses  of  the 
people,  but  the  founders  of  !civil 
service  reform  and  those  who  have 
advocated  the  cause  since  its  foun¬ 
dation  have  never  been  convinced 
that  this  was  true  of  the  United 
States. 

They  have  believed  that  the  people 
of  the  United  States  in  all  of  the 
great  crisis  of  its  history  have  ulti¬ 
mately  given  a  righteous  judgment 
between  the  contending  questions  of 
policy  which  have  been  brought  be¬ 
fore  them  for  decision.  They  have 


firmly  believed  that  it  was  perfectly 
possible  by  the  unbiased  exercise  of 
the  will  of  the  majority  to  have  an 
economical,  moral  and  efficient  gov¬ 
ernment  in  all  of  the  communities  of 
the  country  and  in  the  country  at 
large.  They  have  therefore  been  of 
the  opinion  that  the  activities  of  of¬ 
fice  holders  in  organizing  and  con¬ 
trolling  political  movements  was  an 
unmixed  evil,  because  public  intelli¬ 
gence  and  virtue  were  forces  which 
had  guided  this  country  right  in  the 
past  and  would,  if  undisturned,  guide 
it  aright  in  the  future.  The  object  of 
the  civil  service  law  was  to  secure  a 
body  of  appointees  who  did  not  owe 
their  places  to  politics  and  wffio 
would  keep  out  of  politics  except  in 
so  far  as  other  citizens  go  into  poli¬ 
tics.  Since  it  is  absolutely  impossi¬ 
ble  to  keep  a  man  who  owes  his 
place  to  political  considerations  from 
endeavoring  to  control  political 
movement,  it  was  believed  Hhat  if 
the  political  consideration  in  ap¬ 
pointment  was  removed  the  country 
would  be  freed  from  the  pernicious 
and  invariably  injurious  activities  of 
wire-pullers,  office-hunters,  and  of¬ 
fice-holders  seeking  to  retain  their 
places. 

How  far  the  theory  of  civil  serv¬ 
ice  reform  has  been  exemplified  in 
practice  is  the  question  which  is  now 
before  us.  There  are  the  same  diffi¬ 
culties  in  determining  this  question 
that  inhere  in  all  political  or  social 
questions.  The  science  of  govern¬ 
ment  differs  in  one  respect  from  the 
natural  sciences,  for  in  the  latter  it 
is  possible  to  make  a  satisfactory  ex¬ 
periment,  while  in  the  former  it  is 
not.  For  instance,  you  can  combine 
two  chemical  elements  and  then  you 
can  try  the  effect  upon  the  two  of 
a  third.  You  know  positively  that 
only  those  two  elements  are  in  the 
combination  before  the  third  is  in¬ 
troduced,  and  the  changes  which  fol¬ 
low  you  know  are  only  such  as  are 
caused  by  the  third  element.  But  in 
governmental  matters  it  is  not  possi¬ 
ble  to  so  gauge  the  effect  of  an  in¬ 
novation.  Civil  service  reform  has 
been  gradually  tried  upon  the  Ameri¬ 
can  body  politic  during  the  last 


twenty-five  years,  during  that  time 
many  other  things  have  changed  in 
our  government.  It  is  not  possible, 
therefore,  to  credit  all  improvements 
in  administration  to  the  reform  of  the 
civil  service.  It  is  not  possible  to 
measure  in  figures  and  dollars  and 
cents  the  effect  of  the  merit  system 
on  the  administrative  system.  The 
Departments  at  Washington,  for  in¬ 
stance,  have  grown  largely  from 
causes  with  which  the  merit  system 
has  no  connection.  The  Departments 
may  have  saved  hundreds  of  em¬ 
ployees  by  their  removal  of  politics, 
but  on  the  other  hand  they  have  had 
to  increase  their  force  possibly  by 
hundreds  of  thousands  to  meet  their 
increased  duties.  These  economies 
of  the  merit  system  can  not  be  easi¬ 
ly  estimated. 

So  also  it  is  with  efficiency.  Ef¬ 
ficiency  is  a  thing  which  it  is  partic¬ 
ularly  difficult  to  estimate.  It  is  im¬ 
possible  to  tell  in  dollars  and  cents 
the  increased  value  of  any  one  clerk 
or  stenographer  from  his  increased 
attention  to  business,  and  so  it  is  im¬ 
possible  to  tell  in  every  case,  in 
dollars  and  cents,  the  improvement 
of  the  governmental  service  by  the 
competitive  system.  The  only  thing 
that  can  be  done  is  to  observe  and 
reason  as  to  what  must  have  been 
the  effect  of  the  change  from  the  old 
system  of  appointments  to  the  pres¬ 
ent  one,  and  when  we  see  that  the 
effect  of  that  change  must  have  been 
increased  efficiency  we  may  know 
that  the  increased  efficiency  is  there. 
We  cannot,  for  instance,  but  believe 
that  the  Departments  are  better  run 
now  when  their  heads  of  Depart¬ 
ments  have  all  their  time  to  attend 
to  administrative  work  than  they 
were  in  the  seventies  when  the  entire 
time  of  each  head  of  •  Department 
was  taken  up  with  appointments. 
Then  any  time  given  to  non-political 
administrative  work  was  snatched 
furtively  from  the  hearings  clamored 
for  by  the  multitude  of  Congressmen 
and  their  applicants  for  office. 

In  one  Department  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment,  however,  there  has  been  kept 
a  very  exact  account  of  the  efficiency 
of  employees.  This  is  in  the  railway 


mail  department.  This  large  service 
is  one  peculiarly  easy  to  fill  by  ex¬ 
amination.  Its  duties  are  of  a  simple 
character  and  ability  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  a  railway  mail  clerk  is  easi¬ 
ly  tested  by  examination.  President 
Cleveland  classified  this  service  just 
before  he  left  office  in  1889,  having 
probably  first  filled  many  places 
therein  with  Democrats.  Mr.  Harri¬ 
son,  coming  into  office,  suspended  the 
classification  until  most  of  the  places 
were  filled  with  Republicans,  and 
then  renewed  it.  But  during  the 
nineteen  years  which  have  elapsed 
since  that  time  there  has  been  a  rigid 
observance  of  the  rules  of  the  merit 
system  so  far  as  appointments  to  the 
railway  mail  service  are  concerned. 

Under  the  spoils  system  in  1877, 
2,500  pieces  of  mail  in  the  railway 
mail  service  were  correctly  distrib¬ 
uted  for  every  one  erroneously  dis¬ 
tributed.  In  1889,  the  service  was 
still  under  the  spoils  system,  yet 
there  had  been  during  the  twelve 
years  preceding  an  improvement.  In 
1889,  3,954  pieces  were  correctly  dis¬ 
tributed  for  each  error.  This  was  an 
increase  in  the  number  of  correct 
pieces  for  each  error  over  1877  of 
about  56  per  cent.  In  1889  the  merit 
system  was  established.  In  1900  the 
number  of  pieces  correctly  distrib¬ 
uted  for  each  error  was  10,175,  an 
increase  in  the  number  of  correct 
pieces  to  each  error  in  eleven  years 
of  254  per  cent.  Whether  under  the 
spoils  system  or  under  the  system  of 
competition  some  improvement  is 
undoubtedly  inherent  in  any  service; 
but  the  point  to  wrhich  your  attention 
is  called  here  is  that  while  in  twelve 
years  of  the  spoils  system  the  in¬ 
crease  in  efficiency  was  only  56  per 
cent.,  in  eleven  years  of  the  merit  sys¬ 
tem  the  increase  was  254  per  cent. 

Notice  the  effect  of  the  application 
by  President  Harrison  to  the  railway 
mail  service  of  the  spoils  system.  In 
1889,  3,954  pieces  were  correctly  dis¬ 
tributed  for  each  error.  In  the  early 
part  of  1889  the  service  was  sacked. 
The  places  were  distributed  on  the 
basis  of  ability  in  wire  pulling,  in 
place  of  those  evil  minded  believers 


in  free  trade  who  had  previously  held 
them,  among  persons  who  believed  in 
the  doctrine  of  the  protective  tariff. 
The  result  was  that  in  the  year  1890, 
when  the  offices  were  all  filled  by  new 
men,  the  number  of  pieces  correctly 
distributed  decreased  from  3,954  to 
each  error  to  2,834,  a  decrease  in 
round  numbers  of  about  30  per  cent, 
or,  in  other  words,  an  increase  in 
errors  of  about  thirty  per  cent.  It 
would  be  hardly  possible  to  conceive 
of  a  more  complete  demonstration 
that  its  theory  and  its  practice  corres¬ 
pond  that  is  here  given  of  the  effect 
of  the  merit  system.  We  have  the 
improvement  marked  under  the  merit 
system.  To  this  the  answer  was 
made  by  the  eminent  advocate  of  the 
spoils  system  in  Philadelphia,  the 
present  Mayor  of  Philadelphia,  that 
such  improvement  would  have  taken 
place  anyhow.  But  to  this  figure  fur¬ 
nish  the  answer.  While  there  would 
have  been  some  improvement  any¬ 
how,  the  improvement  is  about  five 
times  as  great  in  the  same  period  of 
time  under  the  merit  system  as  under 
the  application  of  the  doctrines  so 
dear  to  Senator  Marcy,  the  late  Mr. 
Grosvenor  and  Mayor  Reyborn  that 
to  the  victor  belong  the  spoils.  More¬ 
over,  the  “clean  sweep”  of  1889  effect¬ 
ually  paralyzed  progress.  In  1899  the 
number  of  correct  pieces  of  mail  for 
each  error  was  3,954;  in  1890,  after 
the  filling  of  all  places  under  the  spoils 
system,  the  number  of  correct  pieces 
for  each  error  was  only  2,834,  an  in¬ 
crease  of  errors  of  28.33  per  cent. 

The  establishment  of  a  practical 
system  of  examinations  is  one  of 
the  things  which  was  believed  to  be 
possible  by  the  advocates  of  civil  ser¬ 
vice  reform,  and  one  of  the  things 
called  for  by  their  theory  which  its 
opponents  claimed  would  never  be 
done.  In  the  early  days  of  the  Com¬ 
mission  there  was  occasionally  some 
ground  for  the  criticism  of  the  spoils¬ 
men.  The  English  examinations, 
which  are  intended  to  fill  a  much 
higher  class  of  offices  than  any  here¬ 
tofore  appointed  by  examination  in 
this  country,  were  possibly  too  much 
followed.  The  standard  was  too  high. 
For  a  time  geography  was  rated  as 


one  of  the  essential  elements  of  the 
ordinary  Departmental  clerk  exam¬ 
ination,  and  I  believe  history  also. 
It  was  soon  brought  forcibly  to  the 
attention  of  the  Commission  that  the 
duties  of  a  Departmental  clerk  are 
really  of  a  simple  character  and  that 
a  simple  examination  adequately  tests 
them.  The  present  examination, 
therefore,  simply  applies  to  the  ability 
of  an  applicant  to  read,  write  and 
cypher,  the  arithmetical  knowledge 
called  for  being  less  than  ought  to 
be  required  for  admission  to  a  high 
school.  It  is  a  striking  fact  that  the 
examination  given  for  Departmental 
clerk  is  one  which  ought  to  be  passed 
by  a  child  who  has  gone  through  the 
eighth  grade  in  any  of  the  larger 
cities  of  the  country,  certainly  in 
Washington,  but  on  the  other  hand 
it  is  taken  :n  almost  every  case  by 
persons  who  had  from  one  to  four 
years  high  school  experience  and  in  a 
large  number  of  cases  by  men  who 
have  gone  through  college,  and  that 
yet  only  48  per  cent  of  these  who  take 
the  examination  pass  it.  Still,  how¬ 
ever,  it  cannot  be  said  that  we  ex¬ 
amine  people  in  Greek  roots  or  in¬ 
tegral  calculus  for  Departmental 
positions.  The  working  of  the  sys¬ 
tem  is  undoubtedly  to  evolve,  and  it 
has  suceeded  in  evolving,  a  simple 
and  practical  examination. 

The  simplicity  and  practicality  of 
examinations  conducted  by  the  Com¬ 
mission  has  been  showm  in  their  flexi¬ 
bility.  Many  things  cannot  be  tested 
by  a  simple  literary  examination  con¬ 
sisting  of  questions  and  answers  or 
problems,  and  there  are  many  grades 
of  examination  which  are  required,  for 
the  different  grades  in  the  service.. 
At  opposite  ends  of  the  Federal  ser¬ 
vice  two  very  different  classes  of  diffi¬ 
culties  have  presented  themselves  to 
the  Commission  of  which  I  am  a 
member.  In  the  Interstate  Com¬ 
merce  Commission  and  the  Bureau  of 
Corporations  there  was  need  of 
special  agents  and  examinators.  The 
men  that  were  wanted  would  not  be 
simply  clerks,  but  it  was  desired  to 
obtain  men  of  wide  information, 
lengthy  business  experience  and  a 
high  grade  of  studies,  especially  in 


sociological  questions.  Professor 
Adams  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  in  the  beginning  obtained 
from  the  President  permission  to  ap¬ 
point  a  number  of  special  agents  and 
examiners.  It  was  represented  to  him 
that  the  Commission  could  furnish 
him  with  what  he  wanted,  and  after  a 
considerable  discussion  he  finally  con¬ 
cluded  to  make  a  trial  of  its  machin¬ 
ery.  The  applicant  wras  required  to 
present  a  thesis  on  which  he  was 
given  a  grade  of  60.  He  received  a 
grade  of  30  for  his  technical  exper¬ 
ience  and  of  10  for  his  general  educa¬ 
tion,  training  and  experience.  The 
applicants,  401  in  number,  were  divid¬ 
ed  into  ten  registers  according  as 
their  experience  or  thesis  placed  them 
in  particular  fields  of  railroad  work 
and  knowledge.  So  satisfactory  was 
the  result  of  this  examination  that 
the  permission  which  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  had  received 
to  appoint  without  examination  a 
large  number  of  eligibles  has  never 
been  used.  The  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  preferred  to  take  people 
which  it  got  from  the  registers  of  the 
Commission. 

In  1906  a  similar  examination  wras 
held  for  the  office  of  the  Bureau  of 
Corporations,  the  grade  being  20  for 
a  thesis,  50  for  special  training  and 
experience,  and  30  for  general  educa¬ 
tional  training.  The  circular  announc¬ 
ing  the  examination  contained  the 
following: 

The  evidence  of  this  special  train¬ 
ing  which  the  competitor  will  be  re¬ 
quired  to  submit  will  fall  into  the  fol¬ 
lowing  classification:  (1)  His  sworn 
statement  showing  (a)  his  specialized 
and  advanced  study  in  economics, 
politics,  *md  law  (this  information 
also  forms  a  part  of  the  basis  for 
rating  the  first  branch,  and  repetition 
is  unnecessary,  as  one  complete 
statement  will  answer  for  both  pur¬ 
poses),  and  (b)  his  business  or  pro¬ 
fessional  experience.  (2)  The  recom¬ 
mendations  of  persons  qualified  to 
judge  as  to  his  fitness  for  any  one 
or  more  of  the  several  groups  of  posi¬ 
tions  described  below.  The  value  of 
these  recommendations  will  necessari¬ 
ly  depend  upon  the  extent  and  nature 


of  ;the  recommendofis  acquaintance 
with  the  competitor,  which  must  be 
stated  in  the  recommendation.  (3) 
Any  writings,  the  result  of  his  orig¬ 
inal  work,  which  the  competitor  may 
have  published  on  economic  subjects 
of  any  kind  (including  financial  and 
statistical),  or  in  relation  to  corpora¬ 
tions. 

Since  the  holding  of  this  examina¬ 
tion  22  appointments  have  been  made 
from  the  register  established  as  its 
result  to  the  thorough  satisfaction  of 
the  important  bureaus  which  have 
called  upon  it.  In  fact,  in  the  earlier 
days  of  the  Bureau  of  Corporations, 
its  positions  were  practically  filled 
without  examination  owing  to  their 
difficult  character,  but  after  a  thorough 
trial  this  examination  was  established 
at  the  request  of  Mr.  Garfield. 

A  similar  examination  was  held  with 
success  to  fill  positions  in  the  Depart¬ 
ment  of  Labor  of  investigators  into 
the  employment  of  child  labor. 

At  the  other  extremity  from  the  ser¬ 
vice  of  special  agents  of  the  Bureau 
of  Corporations  or  of  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  is  the  Rural 
Carrier  Service.  For  this  service  it 
was  impracticable  to  impose  an  exam¬ 
ination  as  difficult  as  that  given  for 
Departmental  clerk  or  even  that  given 
for  messenger  or  watchman  in  the 
Departmental  service.  The  examina¬ 
tion  for  this  service,  therefore,  con¬ 
sists  simply  in  reading  a  few  ad¬ 
dresses  of  not  a  very  difficult  charac¬ 
ter,  in  adding  a  column  of  decimals 
(dollars  and  cents),  and  in  answering 
two  or  three  practical  questions  about 
the  duties  of  a  rural  carrier.  As  this 
examination  can  be  passed  by  an  over¬ 
whelming  majority  of  the  applicants, 
and  as  the  registers  are  very  small, 
there  being  but  few  applicants  to  a 
place,  in  order  to  avoid  the  effect  of 
political  influence  it  was  necessary  to 
certify  but  one  eligible  for  each  ap¬ 
pointment,  and  this  has  been  done. 
That  the  service  thus  obtained  is  sat¬ 
isfactory  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the 
removals  therefrom  in  a  year  for  cause 
have  been  found  to  be  less  than  one- 
fourth  of  those  made  in  the  fourth 
class  postmaster  service,  where  the  ap- 


pointments  are  based  entirely  on  po¬ 
litical  considerations. 

The  second  advantage  promised  by 
the  theory  of  the  merit  system  is 
economy  in  the  service.  As  has  al¬ 
ready  been  shown,  it  is  difficult  to 
figure  this  out  in  dollars  and  cents. 
Two  tests,  however,  may  be  cited, 

one  applying  to  the  service  at  large, 
and  one  to  the  force  of  the  Civil  Ser¬ 
vice  Commission,  the  latter  occurring 
under  my  own  observation. 

From  1883  to  1896  the  service  in 

Washington  was  divided  between 
competitive  and  noncompetitive 
forces,  the  former  appointed  by  com¬ 
petitive  examination  and  the  latter 

under,  the  spoils  system.  During  that 
period  there  was  an  increase  of  37 
per  cent,  in  the  number  and  43  per 
cent,  in  the  salaries  of  the  unclassi¬ 
fied  appointees,  who  were  all  ap¬ 
pointed  without  examination  under 

the  patronage  system.  During  the 
same  period  there  was  a  slight  de¬ 
crease  in  the  number  of  classified 
positions  as  well  as  a  slight  decrease 
in  the  amount  of  salaries  paid  for  the 
same. 

The  period  in  question  was  one  dur¬ 
ing  which  the  scope  of  governmental 
powers  was  not  enlarged.  There 
was  no  war  and  no  very  great  in¬ 
crease  in  the  duties  of  the  Depart¬ 
ments  by  means  of  legislation.  Con¬ 
sequently  a  great  increase  in  the 
force  was  not  to  be  looked  for.  From 
1896  to  1908  an  increase  in  the  De¬ 
partments  was  to  be  expected.  The 
Spanish  war  and  the  recent  large  ex¬ 
tensions  of  the  functions  of  govern¬ 
ment  by  means  of  the  creation  of  the 
Bureau  of  Corporations,  the  pure 
food  law,  and  the  enlargement  of  the 
powers  of  the  Bureau  of  Tabor  and 
the  interstate  Commerce  Commission 
have  caused  a  great  natural  increase 
in  the  force  of  competitive  employees. 

It  will  be  observed,  however,  that 
during  the  period  from  1883  to  1897 
there  was  an  increase  of  37  per  cent, 
in  the  number  of  unclassified  em¬ 
ployees  and  as  the  sole  distinction  be¬ 
tween  them  and  the  classified  force 
was  the  matter  of  classification.  It  is 
fair  to  reason  that  there  would  have 
been  a  similar  increase  in  the  classi¬ 


fied  force  had  it  been  exposed  to  the 
spoils  system.  It  is  also  a  fair  infer¬ 
ence  to  draw  that  had  the  spoils  sys¬ 
tem  prevailed  in  Washington  during 
the  period  from  1896  to  the  present 
time  there  would  have  been  an  in¬ 
crease  in  the  entire  governmental 
force  of  not  less  than  2  or  3  per  cent, 
than  20  per  cent,  of  the  total  force. 
The  most  moderate  estimate  that  may 
therefore  be  claimed  for  the  system  of 
competition  is  that  it  saves  to-day  one- 
fifth  of  the  total  expense  of  the  sal¬ 
aries  of  employees  in  the  Departments 
at  Washington.  Some  limitations 
might  be  placed  on  this  estimate  from 
the  occasional  firmness  of  an  official 
and  also  from  the  matter  of  possi¬ 
bilities  because  in  some  cases  Depart¬ 
ments  actually  have  not  the  room  to 
stand  an  indefinite  increase  of  force. 
In  the  old  days,  before  the  passage 
of  the  civil  service  law,  it  was  not  un¬ 
common  to  find  an  office  so  over¬ 
crowded  that  desks  were  provided  in 
the  library  and  in  the  private  offices 
of  the  chiefs  to  accommodate  the  em¬ 
ployees  whose  appointment  was  de¬ 
manded  by  the  exigencies  of  politics. 

The  other  illustration  of  the  matter 
of  economy  occurred  in  the  Civil  Ser¬ 
vice  Commission.  A  branch  of  this 
office  is  called  the  Rural  Carrier  Di¬ 
vision,  and  it  has  to  do  solely  with 
the  grading  of  the  papers  of  all  candi¬ 
dates  for  the  position  of  rural  carrier. 
This  branch  of  the  office  has  been 
taken  over  from  the  Post  Office  De¬ 
partment,  being  acquired  by  the  Com¬ 
mission  in  1905.  When  the  rural  car¬ 
rier  force  was  first  established-,  as  is 
frequently  the  case  with  newly  estab¬ 
lished  forces,  a  clause  was  put  in  the 
appropriation  bill  providing  that  all 
appointments  therein  should  be  made 
without  regard  to  the  civil  service  law 
or  rules.  In  this  manner  this  division, 
which  is  now  in  our  office,  was  orig¬ 
inally  appointed  under  the  patronage 
system.  This  work  is  now  heavier 
than  it  was  when  it  was  entirely  com¬ 
posed  of  persons  appointed  under  that 
system,  but  the  work  is  substantially 
performed  by  persons  who  have  been 
selected  through  the  process  of  com¬ 
petition.  Under  the  old  system  the 
number  of  persons  required  to  do  the 


work  of  this  division,  which  is  larger 
now  than  it  ever  was  before,  was  from 
34  to  46.  At  present  that  same  work 
is  done  by  14  persons;  thus  illustrat¬ 
ing  the  comparative  efficiency  of  the 
employee  secured  by  patronage  and 
the  employee  secured  by  examination, 
and  the  comparative  economy  of  the 
two  systems. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  lack  of 
economy  under  the  old  system  we 
may  turn  to  the  famous  report  of  the 
Bureau  of  Printing  and  Engraving, 
made  in  1877,  wherein  it  is  said: 

We  began  our  investigations  on  the 
21st  of  March,  by  the  oral  examina¬ 
tion  of  the  officers  of  the  Bureau,  but 
before  proceeding  far  it  became  ap¬ 
parent  that  there  was  a  great  excess 
of  force  employed.  Upon  reporting 
this  fact  to  the  Secretary  we  were 
directed  to  submit  a  list  of  persons 
whose  services  could  be  dispensed 
with,  basing  our  recommendations 
solely  upon  the  relative  efficiency  of 
the  various  employees.  In  the  per¬ 
formance  of  this  duty  we  required  the 
several  chiefs  of  divisions,  in  our  pres¬ 
ence  and  under  our  instructions,  to 
rate  the  efficiency  of  their  employees 
on  a  scale  of  10,  having  regard  to 
their  capacity,  industry,  moral  charac¬ 
ter  and  habits.  Having  ascertained 
from  the  statements  of  the  officers  of 
the  Bureau  the  daily  amount  of  work 
to  be  done  in  a  given  division,  and 
the  capacity  of  an  efficient  employee 
therein,  we  thus  determined  the  num¬ 
ber  of  persons  required  in  such  di¬ 
vision.  Proceeding  in  this  manner  we 
found  that  the  services  of  23  persons, 
with  an  annual  compensation  of  $136.- 
000,  could  be  dispensed  with  without 
impairing  the  efficiency  of  the  Bu¬ 
reau  or  changing  the  then  existing 
methods  of  doing  business. 

Our  investigations  show  that  the 
force  of  the  Bureau  has  for  many 
years  been  in  excess  of  the  require¬ 
ments  of  the  work,  and  that  this  was 
the  case  even  when  the  work  was 
greatest.  We  are  informed  and  be¬ 
lieve  that  the  force  employed  in  some 
divisions  was  for  a  number  of  years 
together  twice  as  great  as  was  re¬ 
quired  for  the  proper  performance  of 
the  work,  and  that  in  others  it  was 
three  times  as  great  as  necessary.  In 

10 


one  of  these  divisions  a  sort  of  plat¬ 
form  had  been  built  underneath  the 
iron  roof,  about  seven  feet  above  the 
floor,  to  accommodate  the  surplus 
counters.  On  this  shelf,  on  parts  of 
which  a  person  of  ordinary  height 
could  not  stand  erect — deprived  of 
proper  ventilation,  and  exposed  in 
summer  to  the  joint  effects  of  the 
heated  roof  above  and  the  fumes  of 
the  wetted  paper  beneath  —  were 
placed  some  thirty  or  more  women 
for  whom  room  must  be  found.  It 
now  appears  that  the  room  was  of 
ample  size,  without  this  contrivance, 
to  accommodate  all  of  the  persons 
who  had  received  appointments  and 
really  needed;  that  the  surplus  force 
stowed  away  in  the  loft  was  entirely 
unnecessary;  and  that  some  of  them, 
at  times,  for  lack  of  occupation,  whiled 
away  the  time  in  sleep. 

We  may  also,  to  show  that  the 
spoils  system  is  to-day  what  it  was  a 
generation  ago,  take  up  the  case  of 
the  special  investigation  of  House  em¬ 
ployees,  Report  of  February  28,  1901, 
wherein  it  appears  that  during  the  55th 
Congress  the  practice  prevailed,  under 
a  system  of  appointment  by  patron¬ 
age,  of  systematically  paying  persons 
who  were  absent  from  employment, 
even  in  cases  where  their  duties  were 
such  as  ought  to  require  their  attend¬ 
ance  during  the  year,  and  subtracting 
large  sums  of  money  from  the  pay  of 
clerks  to  give  to  the  pay  of  other 
clerks  with  a  view  of  equalizing  the 
claims  of  different  members  of  Con¬ 
gress  to  patronage;  a  process  which 
necessarily  implies  a  taking  of  money 
from  the  Government  without  ade¬ 
quate  return.  See  also  in  the  Census 
of  1900,  of  which  one  of  its  most 
prominent  officials  says: 

One  consequence  of  the  spoils  sys¬ 
tem  as  applied  to  the  Twelfth  Census, 
was  the  employment  of  an  unneces¬ 
sarily  large  number  of  clerks.  It  was 
far  easier,  in  my  own  experience,  to 
obtain  a  score  of  additional  clerks  at 
an  annual  cost  of  from  $14,000  to 
$24,000  than  to  secure  an  expenditure 
of  $1,000  for  supplies  which  would 
save  the  labor  of  twenty  clerks. 
Under  this  system  clerical  labor  costs 


rose  enormously  above  the  necessary 
or  desirable  level  for  there  was  no¬ 
where  an  effective  and  undeviating 
purpose  to  eliminate  wastes  of  this 
sort  nor  the  close  scrutiny  of  the 
methods  proposed  to  be  employed 
which  the  execution  of  such  a  purpose 
would  involve.  Both  the  appropriat¬ 
ing  and  the  appointing  powers  seemed 
rather  to  favor  methods  which  re¬ 
quired  the  maximum  number  of 
clerical  employees. 

Turning  to  the  third  question,  that 
of  the  removal  of  the  civil  service 
from  politics  and  of  the  consequent 
abolition  of  the  control  of  politics  by 
the  officeholders  or  office-seekers  ma¬ 
chine,  the  result  of  the  reform  in  this 
particular  is  ;possibly  less  apparent 
and  less  demonstratable  than  any  of 
the  others.  This  is  largely  because 
it  has  not  been  extended  as  yet  to  the 
higher  government  officials  or  to  the 
civil  services  of  the  different  states 
and  cities.  It  is,  however,  none  the 
less  true  that  much  has  been  accom¬ 
plished.  For  instance,  the  entire  com¬ 
petitive  force  of  the  government  no 
longer  concerns  itself  with  politics. 
There  may  be  individual  exceptions  to 
this  rule,  but  that  they  are  few  in 
number  is  indicated  by  the  experience 
of  the  Civil  Service  Commission. 
Since  June,  1907,  the  Civil  Service 
Commission  has  had  charge  of  the  en¬ 
forcement  of  the  rule  against  political 
activity  in  the  competitive  service. 
During  that  time  there  have  been  to 
my  knowledge  not  to  exceed  eight 
cases  serious  enough  to  require  in¬ 
vestigation,  one  of  which  terminated 
in  removal,  and  others  in  lesser  pun¬ 
ishments  such  as  reprimands,  while  in 
one  case  the  charges  were  proven  to 
be  without  foundation.  As  the  Com¬ 
mission  has  investigated  every  case 
submitted  to  it  it  is  apparent  that 
there  cannot  be  very  much  activity  on 
the  part  of  those  in  the  competitive 
service.  This,  too,  is  in  the  year  of  a 
presidential  nomination.  The  Presi¬ 
dent  has  very  wisely  held  that  the  rule 
against  political  activity  cannot  be  en¬ 
forced  against  those  not  appointed  by 
competition.  It  is  impossible  to  en¬ 
force  this  rule  against  persons  who 
owe  their  appointments  to  politics,  and 


who  would  lose  them  if  they  were  not 
active  in  politics,  but  so  far  as  the 
system  of  competition  has  been  al¬ 
lowed  to  extend  it  has  achieved  its 
object.  The  man  who  is  protected 
from  removal  for  political  reasons  and 
who  owes  his  place  to  standing  in  an 
examination  does  not  care  to  take  any 
part  in  politics  further  than  to  vote. 
In  1881  a  dispute  over  the  position  of 
Collector  of  Customs  of  New  York  re¬ 
sulted  in  the  feud  in  the  Republican 
party  which  was  prominent  among  the 
causes  which  gave  the  presidency  to 
the  Democratic  party  four  years  later. 
How  many  in  this  audience  Jknow 
who  is  the  Collector  of  Customs  at 
New  York  at  present?  How  many 
know  that  there  has  been  a  change  in 
that  office  in  the  last  six  months? 
Why  is  this?  Simply  because  the 
Collector’s  control  over  his  force  in 
politics  has  been  destroyed. 

i  think  that  this  city  of  Chicago  is 
an  instance  of  the  truth  of  the  asser¬ 
tion  that  the  enforcement  of  the  civil- 
service  law  has  produced  a  high  grade 
of  politics  and  brings  into  political 
life  a  higher  grade  of  people,  and 
without  going  into  an  embarrassing 
personal  discussion,  I  think  the  same 
thing  is  true  of  the  Executive  part  of 
the  national  government.  The  prac¬ 
tice  of  handling  politics  from  the  pea¬ 
nut  standpoint  of  regarding  it  as  a 
game  of  traffic  in  offices  and  contracts 
with  the  ultimate  result  of  pecuniary 
emolument  of  the  successful  is  neces¬ 
sarily  so  revolting  to  men  of  intelli¬ 
gence  and  character  that  it  will  force 
them  to  keep  out  unless  compelled 
by  necessity.  On  the  other  hand  the 
handling  of  public  appointments  with 
but  sole  regard  for  the  public  good 
will  inevitably  raise  the  character  of 
government,  and  induce  many  to 
seek  governmental  employment  whose 
character  will  improve  the  administra¬ 
tion. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  theory  of  civil 
service  reform  has  shown  itself  to  be 
in  the  proper  sense  of  that  word  a 
theory  and  to  be  justified  by  its  re¬ 
sults.  The  objections  made  to  re¬ 
form  in  its  incipiency  have  been  in 
like  manner  shown  to  be  by  practical 


experience  destitute  of  any  corre¬ 
spondence  to  actual  effect.  Thus,  for 
instance,  it  was  frequently  said  that 
confidential  positions,  of  which  there 
are  many  thousands,  could  not  be 
filled  by  examination;  the  answer  to 
which  is  afforded  by  the  spectacle  of 
thousands  of  Federal  officials  holding 
their  places  through  examination  and 
promotion,  and  discharging  the  most 
confidential  and  responsible  duties  in 
the  service.  In  the  office  of  the  Civil 
Service  Commission  at  Washington, 
for  example,  of  the  170  employees 
probably  95  per  cent,  have  been  pro¬ 
cured  by  examination.  There  is  no 
Department  of  the  Government  whose 
proceedings  would  be  of  more  interest 
to  the  newspapers  if  revealed,  and  yet 
I  do  not  believe  that  in  the  whole  his¬ 
tory  of  the  Commission  any  fact  has 
ever  gotten  out  about  its  transactions 
except  through  the  Commissioners. 
A  Government  official  does  not  need, 
in  most  cases,  any  confidential  em¬ 
ployee.  Government  business  is  a 
matter  of  public  interest  and  the  con¬ 
fidential  employee  or  private  secretary 
is  much  more  likely  to  be  wanted  for 
purposes  of  politics  than  for  the  doing 
of  the  business  of  the  Government. 
So  far  as  it  is  necessary  to  have  men 
who  can  keep  things  to  themselves 
and  avoid  publicity,  experience  has 
richly  and  abundantly  demonstrated 
that  they  can  be  gotten  by  means  of 
examination.  It  has  been  repeatedly 
shown  that  the  man  who  is  appointed 
by  examination  and  tested  by  proba- 
tional  appointment  is  far  more  re¬ 
liable,  far  more  honest,  and  far  less 
likely  to  be  guilty  of  pecuniary  de¬ 
falcation  than  the  man  who  has  earned 
his  position  by  services  in  politics. 

It  was  said  that  the  establishment 
of  a  competitive  system  would  deprive 
us  of  the  inestimable  services  of  po¬ 
litical  workers,  that  no  one  would  take 
any  active  interest  in  politics  if  the 
services  of  officials  were  withdrawn. 
To  this  the  answer  was  made  and  it 
has  been  verified  by  experience,  that 
such  activity  is  only  desirable  if  in¬ 
spired  by  zeal  for  promotion  or  for  the 
success  of  a  worthy  candidate,  and 
that  the  activity  is  inspired  by  the 
holding  or  hope  of  an  office  might  be 


dispensed  with  without  injury  to  the 
body  politic. 

The  enormous  change  involved  in 
the  withdrawal  of  165,000  or  185,000 
classified  employees  has  not  apparent¬ 
ly  put  an  end  to  campaigns  or  created 
any  difficulty  in  carrying  them  on. 
The  evil  predicted  has  not  followed 
from  the  retirement  of  these  people 
from  party  activity. 

A  favorite  argument  of  the  advo¬ 
cates  of  the  system  of  patronage  in 
the  past  was  the  superiority  of  a  pass 
over  a  competitive  examination.  We 
are  nearly  all  familiar  with  the  prac¬ 
tice  which  has  shown  the  futility  of 
the  system  of  pass  examinations. 
The  difficulty  about  them  is  that 
there  is  nothing  to  restrain  the  natural 
kindheartedness  of  the  examining  offi¬ 
cer;  the  steady  pull  is  in  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  making  the  examination  easier; 
the  candidates’  backers  accelerate  this 
tendency  and  the  examination  rapidly 
degenerates  into  a  farce.  From 
March  3,  1897,  to  March  3,  1898,  112 
persons  selected  by  the  patronage 
system  on  the  priciple  of  a  division  of 
patronage  between  the  machines  of 
the  different  States,  took  the  examina¬ 
tion  in  the  State  Department  for  con¬ 
sular  positions.  Of  these  112  only  one 
failed  to  pass.  Mr.  Root  has  charac¬ 
terized  these  examinations  by  saying 
that  it  was  regarded  as  cruelty  to 
animals  to  turn  anyone  down  that 
tried  to  pass  it,  and  that  the  standard 
is  so  low  that  no  one  but  a  congenital 
idiot  could  fail  to  pass. 

Thus  it  appears  that  in  the  instance 
of  the  merit  system  “wisdom  is  justi¬ 
fied  in  her  children.”  The  applica¬ 
tion  in  practice  of  the  theory  laid 
down  by  the  early  civil  service  re¬ 
formers  and  so  aptly  cited  by  Curtis 
has  shown  that  all  that  was  claimed 
of  it  was  true,  and  all  the  objections 
made  against  it  are  baseless. 

We  can  but  believe,  so  long  as  we 
believe  in  the  progress  of  society 
and  of  human  intelligence,  that  this 
movement  is  destined  to  spread  until 
it  has  covered  every  State  and  munici¬ 
pal  service  in  the  Union,  and  every 
position  in  the  service  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  except  those  in  whose  choice 
the  political  element  is  also  neces- 


sary.  We  do  not  contend  that  higher 
officials  can  all  be  appointed  by  com¬ 
petitive  examination,  though  many 
may  be,  but  the  principle  of  appoint¬ 
ment  for  public  service  as  distin¬ 
guished  from  for  party  end,  and  ser¬ 
vice  so  long  as  the  public  good  is  ad¬ 
vanced  by  that  service,  will,  we  be¬ 
lieve,  ultimately  prevail  in  all  offices 
not  directly  concerned  with  political 
questions.  Before  another  generation 


has  passed  away  the  changing  of  post¬ 
masters  or  collectors  of  customs,  or 
district  attornies  with  every  change  in 
the  party  in  power  will  be  as  anti¬ 
quated  and  as  absurd  to  the  eyes  of 
the  people  of  this  country  as  are  to 
us  at  present  the  barbarities  of  the  old 
English  common  law  or  the  atrocities 
and  absurdities  of  the  system  of 
slavery. 


13 


i 


kj 


-«*  *-4k 


NATIONAL  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM  LEAGUE 


PRESIDENT: 

JOSEPH  H.  CHOATE. 


VICE-PRESIDENTS: 


GROVER  CLEVELAND, 
CHARLES  W.  ELIOT, 
HARRY  A.  GARFIELD, 
DANIEL  C.  GILMAN, 
ARTHUR  T.  HADLEY, 
HENRY  CHARLES  LEA, 
SETH  LOW, 


FRANKLIN  MACVEAGH, 
GEORGE  A.  POPE, 

HENRY  C.  POTTER,  D.D., 
P.  J.  RYAN,  D.D., 

MOOR  FIELD  STOREY, 
THOMAS  N.  STRONG, 
HERBERT  WELSH. 


SECRETARY: 


TREASURER: 


ELLIOT  H.  GOODWIN. 


A.  S.  FRISSELL. 


ASS’T  SECY.: 

ALBERT  DE  ROODE. 

COUNCIL: 

RICHARD  HENRY  DANA,  Chairman. 


WILLIAM  A.  AIKEN, 

FREDERIC  ALMY, 

ARTHUR  H.  BROOKS, 

CHARLES  C.  BURLINGHAM, 
GEORGE  BURNHAM  JR., 

SILAS  W.  BURT, 

JOHN  A.  BUTLER, 

EDWARD  CARY, 

EVERETT  COLBY, 

CHARLES  COLLINS, 

WILLIAM  E.  CUSHING, 
NATHANIEL  HENCHMAN  DAVIS, 
HORACE  E.  DEMING, 

ROBERT  G.  DODGE, 

JOHN  JOY  EDSON, 

JOHN  A.  FAIRLIE, 

HENRY  W.  FARNAM, 

CYRUS  D.  FOSS,  JR., 

WILLIAM  DUDLEY  FOULKE, 
RICHARD  WATSON  GILDER, 
CHARLES  NOBLE  GREGORY, 
HENRY  W.  HARDON, 

H.  BARTON  JACOBS, 

ROBERT  D.  JENIvS, 

WILLIAM  V.  K ELLEN, 

JOHN  F.  LEE, 


WILLIAM  G.  LOW, 

GEORGE  McANENY, 

HENRY  L.  McCUNE, 

HARRY  J.  MILLIGAN, 

WILLIAM  B.  MOULTON, 
SAMUEL  IT.  ORDWAY, 
WILLIAM  POTTS, 

JOHN  READ, 

H.  O.  REIK, 

CHARLES  RICHARDSON, 
HENRY  A.  RICHMOND, 
EDWARD  M.  SHEPARD, 

F.  L.  SIDDONS, 

NELSON  S.  SPENCER, 

LUCIUS  B.  SWIFT, 

W.  J.  TREMBATH, 

HENRY  VAN  KLEECK, 

W.  W.  VAUGHAN, 

EVERETT  P.  WHEELER, 
CHARLES  B.  WILBY, 

ANSLEY  WILCOX, 

C.  D.  WILLARD, 

FREDERICK  C.  WINKLER, 

R.  FRANCIS  WOOD, 

CLINTON  ROGERS  WOODRUFF, 
MORRILL  WYMAN,  JR. 


Offices  of  the  League, 

No.  79  WALL  ST.,  NEW  YORK. 

14 


■ 


. 


. 


.'V  ■  >  “ 


k 


■  ■■  .  '  ■■  :  .:J> 

•-  •  - 

r  ■■■■  -  > 

—  -  j-.  —  '•  '•*' 


r 


“V 


Jr* 


-• 


. 


1  r- 


<x 


M 


i 


-  ■  .* 


| 


; 


